Surgical staplers have become a very typical form of wound closure during surgery. These surgical staplers can perform various functions such as closing internal wounds, as well as suturing skin. Many of these surgical staplers have reloadable cartridges. These cartridges allow for the rapid reloading of the surgical stapler during the operation. That is, the stapler can be used, the spent cartridge removed, and the surgical stapler reloaded with another cartridge and ready for use.
One problem, however, is the refiring of staplers containing spent cartridges. In other words, during the course of surgery it may be possible for the surgeon to use the surgical stapler and then inadvertently not reload the stapler with an unused cartridge. The stapler is then inserted into the wound for use, and then fired. Of course, because the cartridge is already spent, the stapler will not be able to fire another round of staples. This results in a delay while reloading the surgical stapler.